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2 Taken Into Custody After Car Slams Into San Jose Fourplex, Triggering Gas Leak

No injuries were reported, but 16 people — eight adults and eight children — were displaced as a result of the collision

Two people were taken into custody Monday morning after a car slammed into a residential building in west San Jose, rupturing a gas line in the process and forcing the evacuation of more than one dozen residents, according to officials.

Olivia Marisol Paez, 18, of San Jose and Brett Tyler Oppido, 28, of Santa Clara were booked into jail for misdemeanor hit and run, filing a false police report and conspiracy in connection with the crash, which occurred along the 1300 block of San Tomas Aquino Parkway, according to police and fire officials. 

No injuries were reported in the collision, but at least 16 people — eight adults and eight children — were displaced from the fourplex that was struck, San Jose Fire Department Capt. Brad Cloutier said.

Police and fire crews were dispatched to the fourplex around 12:15 a.m., according to officials. Arriving crews discovered that the car crashed into the side of the building and sheared a gas line. Firefighters managed to secure the gas leak and help evacuate the residents, Cloutier said.

Before officers made it to the crash scene, the female driver of the mangled vehicle fled in a pickup truck driven by a male, according to police. 

The registered owner of the vehicle involved in the crash later called authorities and reported that the vehicle had been stolen, police said. As it turns out, the person who made the stolen vehicle report was Paez, the woman who crashed into the building and fled.

Authorities later identified and found Oppido, the pickup truck driver who scooped up Paez. Both Paez and Oppido were booked into the Santa Clara County Jail, according to police.

Authorities had to displace the 16 residents for the night because they had no access to gas and an inspector needed to assess the structural stability of the building, Cloutier said.

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